{http://s3.freefoto.com/images/05/08/05_08_5_web.jpg} Social Issue"Suddenly realizing he is alone [...] He makes a sudden movement of search"~Willy (135)
At this moment Willy comes to a realization. That he is alone and that his life has lost meaning. shortly after he commits suicide. Not a happy fairy tale ending, but real life. Throughout this play we do not follow the evolution of a plot but the devolution of a man's life. When Willy makes a sudden movement of search, he was searching for a sign. Something to tell him that life was worth living. That the whole he felt would heal and that it would get better. But he didn't receive that message so the book ends with Willy committing suicide

{http://s3.freefoto.com/images/05/08/05_08_5_web.jpg} Social Issue"Suddenly realizing he is alone [...] He makes a sudden movement of search"~Willy (135)
At this moment Willy comes to a realization. That he is alone and that his life has lost meaning. shortly after he commits suicide. Not a happy fairy tale ending, but real life. Throughout this play we do not follow the evolution of a plot but the devolution of a man's life. When Willy makes a sudden movement of search, he was searching for a sign. Something to tell him that life was worth living. That the whole he felt would heal and that it would get better. But he didn't receive that message so the book ends with Willy committing suicide

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families and friends.friends._
Luis Y. Melendez
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Character: Happy Loman
Happy Loman is the second son of William and Linda Loman, and the younger brother of Biff. At the time of the play, he is 32 years old. Happy is described as “tall," and "powerfully made." The book goes on to say "Sexuality is like a visible color on him, or a scent that many women have discovered . He, like his brother, is lost, but in a different way, for he has never allowed himself to turn his face toward defeat and is thus more confused and hard-skinned, although seemingly more content,” (19). Happy spends a majority of the play lying about himself and his successes in life. In reality, however, he’s completely lost in his own life. The irony being that in his quest for success and recognition, he never truly finds happiness, despite his namesake.
Happy is a very significant character in the text. He represents all of the negative qualities passed on by his father, Willy. He is a liar and a womanizer, and spends his entire life in another person's shadow. In terms of employment, he is the assistant to an assistant, basically a replaceable grunt. He is content to lie to others and himself rather than better himself in any way. This makes his character more stubborn than even his brother Biff, for Biff eventually accepts that he is a failure.
A strength of Happy's is that his ability for pacification. As soon as Willy begins to battle with Biff and make unfavorable statements, Happy steps in and makes everything peaceful. This also contributes to his womanizing attitude. Within minutes, Happy can convince a woman to stop whatever she’s doing and give him her undivided attention.
A weakness of Happy's is his inability to admit his faults, preferring to lie than admit failure. In his quest to impress his father, Happy constantly exaggerates and lies in order to gain approval. Happy even suggests that Biff lie to Willy as well, saying: “Say you got a lunch date with Oliver tomorrow.” Happy has convinced himself that he’s living the perfect life, despite most of it being false. Whether Happy is truly living in delusion or not remains unknown for most of the book, however, near the end, Happy states "We always told the truth," revealing to the reader that Happy has, in fact, never told the truth. He is a failure, doomed to live among his lies forever.
Theme: Lies
Throughout the play, the Lomans constantly deceive one another and themselves in order to make life more bearable for each other. Happy and Willy are the prime examples of this. Both men have lied for so long that they have truly begun to believe the falsities that escape their lips. They abandon their real lives into their fantasies and delusions and remain there. Willy believes that he has succeeded in life, Happy believes that he and his family have as well, Linda believes that the Lomans are on the verge of success, and the family's lives begin to spiral out of control as their imaginary truths begin to unravel into cold, hard facts.
Vocabulary (Pages 57-84)
Timberland (56) - land covered with forest suitable or managed for timber.
Proposition (57) - a suggested scheme or plan of action, especially in a business context.
Earnest (61) - resulting from or showing sincere and intense conviction.
Carte Blanche (62) - complete freedom to act as one wishes or thinks best.
Mystify (64) - utterly bewilder or perplex (someone).
Lavishly (65) - extravagantly: in a wasteful manner
Commission (70) - an amount of money, typically a set percentage of the value involved, paid to an agent in a commercial transaction.
Saccharine (75)- a sweet, sugary taste; sentimental
Resentful (80) - feeling or expressing bitterness or indignation at having been treated unfairly.
Valise (84)- hand carry, travel luggage small enough to fit clothing and minimal items inside.
Quote Analysis
"Why did I go? Why did I go! Look at you! Look at what’s become of you!"
-Biff (Act 2: Scene 9)
The real significance of this quote is Biff's final explanation for his actions. His father, Willy, has been pressing and asking himself as to why Biff has seemed to be resolved to failure, and Biff has finally snapped at his father, showing that all of his actions were in some futile attempt to receive his father's pride at last and prevent Willy from having a total breakdown. However, Biff fails, just as he did in high school, and Willy is left responsible for both.
Scene: The Death of the Salesman
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WILLY: Imagine? When the mail comes he’ll be ahead of Bernard again! Did you see how he cried to me? Oh, if I could kiss him, Ben!
BEN: Time, William, time!
WILLY: Oh, Ben, I always knew one way or another we were gonna make it, Biff and I!
BEN (looking at his watch): The boat. We’ll be late.
This is the finale. The entire play has been one great crescendo, leading to the final peak of this moment. Willy's mental state has degraded to a point of total insanity. His touch with reality is gone, and he can no longer perceive things as anything other than what he wants them to be. Ben is now omnipresent, and he completely disregards Biff's pleas to him. Willy believes that Biff has finally resolved to become the great man Willy has always wanted him to be, and thinks to himself (and Ben) that he must do everything he can to help Biff on his way. With no job, Willy believes that the only possibility to give success to Biff is to commit suicide and let Biff collect his life insurance. The figment of Ben begins to encourage him, morbidly and cryptically to perform this act, and the main plot of the play concludes with a car crash and the titular Death of a Salesman.
Social Issue: Delusional Pride
The unfortunate part of a society that prides the individual is the inevitable attitude of misplaced pride that it creates in its inhabitants. Men believe themselves to be destined for greatness, and become disillusioned in their flights of fancy. They refuse to believe that they are ordinary, and see themselves as incapable of fault. This becomes increasingly obvious with the character of Willy, who never allows his ideals of personal greatness decay, despite his entire life contradicting these ideals. This inability to cope with the ordinary leads to Willy's disappointment in his sons, estranged family life, and eventual suicide; all of which are proof that one must take care not to become lost in their arrogance.

Tuesday, May 27

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